


Precipice

by Eggling



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-27
Updated: 2019-09-27
Packaged: 2020-10-28 03:21:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20771696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eggling/pseuds/Eggling
Summary: The Doctor and Jamie find themselves a little too high for comfort.





	Precipice

**Author's Note:**

> on [tumblr](https://the--highlanders.tumblr.com/post/187978479006/precipice).

“This is your fault!”

The wind all but carried away Jamie’s voice, and he struggled to twist around and face the Doctor. As he turned, his foot caught on a loose piece of brick, dislodging it and sending it tumbling downwards. It spun – turned inwards – bounced off the side of the tower – then plummeted into the yawning abyss below them, leaving not even a dent in the heavy mists that shrouded the mountain face. Jamie gulped, pressing himself back against the wall behind him and scrabbling at the rough stone in the hopes of finding some purchase. His fingers met only with the brittle stems of a bush, but he clung to it anyway, though he knew it would not bear his weight if he slipped.

“This is your fault,” he repeated, more quietly this time, as if speaking too loudly would push him over the edge.

“How is this my fault?” the Doctor retorted, shouting over the great howling that engulfed them. “It was your idea to climb the tower!”

“I didnae know there wouldn’t be another way out!”

“Where did you think the top of a beacon-tower would lead to?”

“Ye didnae have tae follow me!”

“Well, I couldn’t let you go alone, could I?”

Jamie burst out laughing. Although he did not dare try and turn to look at the Doctor again, he could imagine his incredulous expression with perfect clarity. “You’re ridiculous, ye know that?”

“Well, I couldn’t,” the Doctor grumbled. “Not with that thing after us. You’d do the same for me.”

“Aye, I would,” Jamie admitted. “’Spose we’re just as mad as each other.” He grinned breathlessly. The thin air and the adrenaline coursing through his veins were beginning to make him feel a little light-headed, and everything seemed funnier than normal. “I dinnae really mind that.”

He shuffled further along the ledge, feeling his way around the tower. The next window ought to be close, and that would give him something to hold onto – but there was a risk that their pursuer might spot him on their way up the tower, if they had managed to track them this far. It was a risk he was willing to take, he thought. He might stand a fighting chance against a human attacker, or at least buy some time for the Doctor to escape, but he had no way of surviving a fall.

Edging further around the tower, he bumped into a column carved out of the wall, and cursed his bad luck. When he reached across it, his hand brushed against a dip in the wall, and he clung to it, feeling the smooth wood grain of the window – but when he looked down, he saw that the ledge he was so precariously balanced on was cut through by the column. He would have no choice but to turn around and step across the gap to the other side.

“Hold still,” he told the Doctor. “Whatever ye do, don’t bump me.”

“What _are_ you doing?” The Doctor stared at him incredulously. “Can’t we just stay here? It seems as safe as anywhere.”

Jamie tilted his head downwards, hardly daring to move. “Ye can still see the tower’s entrance from here,” he said. “Who’s tae say ye cannae see us from down there?”

The Doctor _harrumphed_ in that funny way of his, as he always did when he thought an idea was much too risky but found he could not argue with it. “Better get started, then,” he said.

Nodding gratefully, Jamie released his grip on the window to cling to the tower’s gutter instead, lifting one foot from the ledge. He stepped over his other foot almost painfully slowly, his mind filled with thoughts of tripping or losing his balance. When he glanced down to check where he was stepping, he caught a glimpse of the cliff below, and a trickle of ice ran down his spine at the sight.

“Actually...” he said hesitantly. “I dinnae suppose ye could hold onto me, could ye?”

The Doctor did not reply, but pushed himself closer, releasing his own grip on the gutter with one hand to press Jamie against the wall. Feeling a little more secure, Jamie lifted his foot again, stretching around the column to feel out the ledge on the other side. His hands were growing sweaty with nervousness, loosening his hold on the tower, but he did not dare unclench his grip to wipe his palms. He stood frozen there for a long moment, caught on either side of the pillar, struggling to force himself to lift his other foot and swing across.

Just as he finally convinced himself to cross the gap, something struck the tower, making the whole building shudder. His left foot had seemed so stubbornly rooted down barely a moment before, but now it had slipped off the ledge, leaving him standing on one leg and clutching at the window with his fingertips. He reached up his other hand to grab onto the frame, but fell short, and swung outwards again with the momentum of it. The tower was still shaking as if with the footsteps of some massive creature, and the vibrations rocked him to and fro even as he fumbled to catch hold of something, anything. He grasped at the stones – the gutter – a few stray branches of the crumbling plant he had touched before – all of them failed him, and he felt sure he was about to tumble to his death –

The Doctor’s hand slammed against his back, pushing his stomach against the wall and half-winding him in the process. Somehow his foot found the ledge again, though he did not know how. He was back to being splayed across the column, but this time his position seemed infinitely more precarious, with only the Doctor’s hand between him and the jagged, frozen rocks below, and he hardly dared to breathe. When he glanced over at the Doctor, he saw the same breathless terror on his face, but when he went to open his mouth, the Doctor shushed him hurriedly.

Before he could even think to ask why, an enormous clawed foot hit the roof above them, dislodging a few shingles and showering them over their shoulders. It was followed by another foot, then the head of the creature, full of knife-like teeth bared in an absent grin. The beast stared out towards the sky, the feathers of its crest raising and lowering in time with its twitching nostrils and flickering tongue. There was a rider, too, Jamie realised, their face covered by a black beanie and mask, their eyes protected by goggles. From what little he could see, they seemed to be studying the creature intently, tracking every slight move of its head. He dared to glance over at the Doctor, who shook his head, and Jamie understood that there was no way out. If the creature noticed them, they would be caught between death by its claws or by falling.

After a long moment of silence, the creature lunged towards them excitedly, its nostrils flared and its crest splayed out, showing off the iridescent edges of its feathers. Squeezing his eyes shut, Jamie braced himself for the blow he was sure would follow. But the rider yanked on the reins, pulling its head around, and the creature leapt from the roof, stretching out to glide on the long feathers running down its front legs. To Jamie’s astonishment, its scales glinted and flickered as the pair soared away, turning almost translucent in the weak dawn sunlight. He struggled to track their path, but they vanished into the thick fog below just as suddenly as they had arrived.

Letting out a sigh of relief, he slumped against the tower, resting his forehead against the cool stones. “Ye never said that thing could climb like that,” he said reproachfully. “I thought they’d come up here on foot.”

“So did I,” the Doctor said softly. “I think we’ve underestimated our friend. We’re lucky they didn’t realise we were here.” He relaxed his grip on the back of Jamie’s shirt, but did not move his hand, holding Jamie steady. “Still, it’s quite alright now. I dare say we’ve bought some time.”

“Aye, if we can move fast enough.” Jamie made to lift his foot again, but to his dismay, he found that his limbs were just as unwilling to move as before. “Hey, Doctor?”

“Mm?”

“I’ve come this far, I might as well keep goin’, but – what are we gonnae do when we get to the other side of this thing?”

The Doctor frowned at him. “Whatever do you mean?”

“I mean. How are we gonnae get down?”


End file.
